Lucy Crocker 2.0: A Novel - Hardcover

Preston, Caroline

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 068485449X ISBN 13: 9780684854496

Publisher: Scribner, 2000

Synopsis

Caroline Preston's debut novel, Jackie by Josie, a 1996 New York Times Notable Book of the Year, was published to stellar reviews. Critics and readers echoed the words of The Cleveland Plain Dealer, which proclaimed that "Caroline Preston has written something rare: 'a woman's book' that smart women can pick up without embarrassment. Jackie by Josie establishes Preston as an American Joanna Trollope." The good news is that Preston's eagerly awaited second novel finds her back in top form. Nobody -- not her kids, not her MIT math-genius husband -- could have predicted that Lucy Crocker, former children's librarian and unabashed computer ignoramus, would be the one to save the family's software company. Nevertheless, that's exactly what happens when she has an unexpected brainstorm to create a fantasy computer game called Maiden's Quest. Suddenly, Lucy, of all people, is a cyber-guru. But now trouble is brewing in the Crocker family. First, Lucy is creatively blocked on producing the Maiden's Quest sequel in time for the crucial Christmas season. Then she discovers that her husband Ed is receiving erotic Tantric massages from their publicity director and her kids are ogling smut on the Internet. Lucy decides it's time to flee the corruption of the modern world, so she packs herself and her sons off to the north woods of Wisconsin, leaving Ed home alone to deal with the glitches at Crocker Software. Lucy Crocker 2.0 is the amusing story of how Lucy weans her pasty-faced boys from their computer addictions, restores order to her marriage, and comes up with a sequel to Maiden's Quest in the process. All the qualities that made Jackie by Josie so admired -- wit, insight, and a light touch -- are on full display in this novel about the comic and not-so-comic effects of technology on life and love at the dawn of the millennium.

About this title

About the Author

Caroline Preston is married to the writer Christopher Tilghman and lives with him and their three sons in Massachusetts. A graduate of Dartmouth College, she earned her master's degree in American Civilization at Brown University. Her first novel, Jackie by Josie, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.

Reviews

A family of computer programming nerds in Crowley, Mass., repair their marital dysfunction and domestic alienation by rediscovering the great outdoors in a blandly amusing, gently ironic tale from the author of Jackie by Josie. Former librarian Lucy Crocker is the inadvertently famous designer of the popular computer fantasy adventure Maiden Quest. Lucy is a fine artist and knows little about computers, but her game has made her husband Ed's company, Crocker Software, a big hit. Ed, a math genius with a pony tail, is having a hard time motivating his wife to bring out Maiden Quest's long-awaited sequel; exasperated by Lucy's procrastination, and bored after 15 years of marriage, Ed finds comfort in the tantric massages of his take-charge publicity director, Ingrid Bascom. Meanwhile, the Crockers' insufferably geeky 13-year-old twin sons, Benjy and Phil, have started their own computer company. When Lucy figures out how to read e-mail, she learns of her husband's dalliance and discovers that her sons are giggling at dirty pictures online. So the boys, who'd never dream of trading their hard drive for a Sunday drive in the country, get shipped off to the wilderness survival camp in Wisconsin that Lucy attended every summer as a teenager. The kids manage to tough it out, Lucy has a fling with a mountain man and the story climaxes in a predictable convergence on Little Lost Lake. There aren't many surprises here, but Preston's story bubbles along cheerfully, thanks to her evident enjoyment in her tale. This offers lighthearted fun for readers interested in the humorous clash between high-tech lifestyles and old-fashioned domesticity. BOMC and QPB alternates. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Prestons insightful and deliciously funny second novel (after Jackie by Josie, 1997) features a memorable protagonist, the creator of a bestselling computer game, who finds herself ignored by her family and decides to fight back. Lucy Crocker has felt adrift ever since her recent miscarriage, and she cant muster the energy to complete a sequel to the popular game, Maiden's Quest, that made her husband Eds software company rich. Meanwhile, Lucys twin sons, 13-year-old Phillip and Benjy, are preoccupied with their own computer business, and Ed seems distracted while Lucy does little more than sleep a lot and daydream about the past. Then Ed fires her, she catches the twins watching porn on the Internet, and she learns that Ingrid, the companys comely p.r. director, is giving her husband erotic massages. Lucys dander is up, and, like the heroine of Maidens Quest, she takes matters into her own hands. She drives the protesting twins, typical computer geeks, to Camp Kinahwee in Wisconsins northern woods, where she herself was once the most outstanding female camper, and then heads to her familys cottage on a remote lake. The penitent Ed, meanwhile, missing Lucy and his sons, sets out looking for them; the twins embark on a long canoe trip; and Lucy begins illustrating her fathers tales of the north, as well as dallying with her first love, Sam. In the following weeks, all of the Crockers themselves are tested like characters on a quest. Lucy witnesses a crime, Ed learns to row, the twins canoe is overturned in a storm. All, however, survive their moral and physical challenges to become wiser, stronger, and ready for new ventures. Another winner from a writer who, like Lucy Crocker, does many wonderful and clever things with consummate grace and wit. (Book-of-the-Month Club/Quality Paperback Club alternate selection) -- Copyright ©2000, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

The titular heroine of Preston's second novel, a children's librarian and a technophobe, creates a computer game that establishes the Crocker Software company financially. Lucy is an outward success--not only is her creation "Maiden's Quest" a best seller but her twin sons run a lucrative hardware installation business they began while in fourth grade. Inwardly, however, Lucy's life is a mess: her marriage and motherhood feel like failures. She discovers that Ed is having an affair with his nasty publicity director and catches the boys downloading pornography off the Internet. Lucy snatches her sons and retreats to what she hopes will be a purer existence in the lake regions of Wisconsin and Canada. Amusing caricatures abound--for example, Corky, Lucy's intensely shallow mother. Librarians will find their portrayal only slightly more flattering than Corky's. Lucy faces one setback after another as she settles into her parents' backwoods cabin. Nonetheless, zany mishaps spark the revival of her family ties and of Crocker bank accounts. Light entertainment with a message: Do what you love, and money, fame, and happiness may (if you're lucky) follow. Preston's first novel, Jackie by Josie, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. For most public library collections.
-Joyce W. Smothers, Monmouth Cty. Lib., Manalapan, NJ
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter 1: Gossip Net

Maiden's Quest priestess, Lucy Crocker, was nowhere to be seen at the latest P.C. gamer convention at the Monterey Hyatt. Her husband, Ed Crocker, prez of Crocker Software, was there handing out Maiden's Quest II T-shirts and mugs. Where's Lucy? we asked. Back at home putting the finishing touches on Maiden's Quest II, said Ed. And when will the sequel to the world's most popular fantasy game be released? By Christmas, saith Ed Crocker. Every good little MQ I fanatic better write Saint Nick right now to make sure a pentagon-shaped package is waiting under the Christmas tree.

Copyright © 2000 by Caroline Preston

Edition details

• Publisher: Scribner
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 068485449X
• ISBN 13: 9780684854496
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 368